


warm

by mutemelody



Series: disharmonious inspiration [9]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Chakra Spirit Kakashi, Don't question them, Dubious Science, Fear, For Sloaners' Discord 2019 Gift-o-ween, Gen, Happy Ending, Haunting, Is it really science if it's Naruto?, Spirits, Uzumaki know things, timeline what timeline /sweats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 00:53:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21262415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mutemelody/pseuds/mutemelody
Summary: “I have a deal. You’re going to take it. Any questions?”Minato blinks in surprise. A deal? Why would a chakra spirit want to make a deal?  What could that even entail? What does he think Minato wants of him? What would he want of Minato?He proceeds a bit more warily. “What kind of deal?” He asks.The spirit smiles with his eyes, and Minato wonders what he looks like under the mask. “The mutually beneficial kind?”“But what does it entail?”“Mutually beneficial things.”





	warm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Spectraheart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spectraheart/gifts).

> For my Halloween giftee (who happens to be the same as the one who I had when I wrote 'jubilation'!). Hope you enjoy <3
> 
> [Note: If you see this work on any app or website outside of AO3 or any of the accounts listed in my profile, then it is being used without my consent and I heavily implore you to not support that app or website. Thank you.]

The world is cold.

This is the only fact he knows is true beyond a doubt.

It’s in the cold steel that glints in the moonlight. It’s in the wind that whips through the trees and bushes, giving leaf patterns that can betray your hiding place to an enemy. It’s in the cemetery full of people who died too soon.

The coldness of the world seeps in everywhere. In the hearts of your friends, the eyes of the ones you love. It’s in fleeting touches and meaningless promises and the realization that no one is coming to save you.

He looks down at his hands. They’re cold. Always cold. The white and golden light that encompasses them look like they wouldn’t be frigid, but they  _ are.  _ Everything is.

The cold is in Kakashi’s very being and nothing can change that.  


Well...maybe one thing can. Or rather, one _person._

But for that to work, he's going to need to handle a few things first.

* * *

Despite how much Kushina argues the latter, Minato had no intention of summoning a chakra spirit.

He had been working on a project, and perhaps Kushina had been correct when she told him that one of the major rules of sealmaking was to never, ever do it when tired. Minato had agreed with her initially, of course - he’s not stupid enough to act like he knows more than an Uzumaki about seals - but that agreement had steadily disappeared as he got closer and closer to completing his project. It left in the forms of one more hour and I’ve gone longer with less in far more dangerous places.

The reason, of course, is that to be distracted could be a death sentence. A single incorrect brush stroke or ping of chakra at the wrong moment or at a bad location could be catastrophic. There's a reason that Konoha has a place for sealmaking away from residential areas. Even the best shinobi could be killed like a civilian by a seal.

But Minato is highly skilled, a certified genius. He's made seals away from the secure location countless times and people just look the other way. 

"It's as if they think you have common sense inherently," Kushina once commented on the matter. "I don't know how they could ever make that mistake."

"Maybe they just know I have enough to follow your instructions," He had replied, before pausing and looking up at his work. "And that if I mess up, you'll hurt me worse than the seal ever could."

"Damn right, 'ttebanne." Kushina muttered.

So yeah, really, it was a full-on accident. His eyes had been bleary with sleep and he was squeezing in extra hours of work that normally he wouldn't have because Kushina would have already forced him to bed. But she's away, on a mission somewhere near the border of Water Country. She won't be back for a week.

He draws a horizontal line instead of a vertical one on the summoning nexus - the part that links the person with the location - and before his mind comprehends his mistake he's already trickling a bit of his chakra into it.

And, well, chakra spirit.

In all honesty, he hadn't been entirely sure that they existed. Sure, there have been many theories about what happens with used chakra. He's heard that it just disappears into the air, that it sinks into the ground, that it returns to the body, and everything else inbetween. So much is unknown about the energy that quite literally, anything is possible.

The idea of chakra spirits is an old one. It's the notion that all that chakra and will eventually coalesces into something with a degree of sentience. It's an idea that normally Minato would have dismissed in favor of ones with more concrete proof, but he still remembers Kushina’s face. How her expression had turned thoughtful and serious. How she hadn't made fun of it like she had the others in the big book they were looking through together.

He had to say her name a few times to jolt her out of whatever deep thought she was in, but when she came out of it she didn’t provide any answers. Just gave him a firm punch in the shoulder, shut the book, and proclaimed that she was hungry and  _ only  _ ramen would do. They had gotten quickly sidetracked after that, but Minato never forgot the look on her face. 

The chakra spirit is beyond anything he could have imagined. 

Now, fear is not technically an emotion. It’s more of a primal instinct. Something ingrained so deep in humans that no one can truly escape it.

And, really, that is fundamentally for the better. Fear keeps the senses sharp, focuses the mind where it is needed. It triggers that fight-or-flight response that keeps people alive.

To a soldier, fear is a partner. It is a constant companion. It sometimes saves lives, sometimes condemns them. Either way, it is an inescapable colleague. Experience cannot keep it away, skill cannot banish it. Naivete and ignorance only hide it, and even that comfort is hollow and fleeting. Fear will still find you.

At least, until your heart stops beating.

Terror is something else. It's not fight and it's not flight. It's freeze. It's the heart beating so loud and fast that nothing else exists. It restricts the mind, firmly putting one in one place and time and leaving them there until it subsides.

Terror is not something Minato has felt often in his life. It's escapable in a way fear is not. He's avoided it with knowledge and experience and skill.

But when his eyes land upon the translucent outline of the chakra spirit, for some reason terror is all that he feels.

It's overwhelming and all encompassing, pushing aside any logical or rational thinking. Adrenaline roars through his entire system, causing his hands to shake and sweat to start forming on his skin. He wants to move -  _ needs _ to move, as his brain is screaming at him to do so - but he cannot move his legs.

The spirit, short with spiky white hair and masked from the nose down, gives him an unimpressed look.

"This'll be easy," The spirit murmurs, loud enough for Minato to hear.

Then the spirit vanishes, and just as suddenly as the terror came, it completely disappears.

It's rough and jarring, causing him to physically stagger. A small cry slips from his lip at the sudden change. His body is still overloaded with adrenaline, but now there's no focus for it. Not only is there no terror - there's no fear  _ whatsoever. _

He sits down in the chair he previously occupied, forcing himself to breathe steadily. In and out. He needs to get under control - adrenaline can be killer in a fight when strategy needs to reign supreme. It's a constant enemy in the same way fear is a repeat partner.

_ Breathe. _ He keeps taking steady inhales and exhales until his breathing evens out once more. There's still remaining adrenaline, but he has things more under control than before so it's enough for him.

He looks at the sealing array and the incorrect line cutting through it while not really seeing it. The events it caused play and replay over and over in his mind.

A chakra spirit. 

A  _ chakra spirit.  _

He thinks of Kushina’s face, somber and pensive. He thinks of the overwhelming terror that just passed through him. He thinks of the spirit’s murmur, the glint that reminded Minato of a predator eyeing weak prey.

_ "This'll be easy,"  _ The spirit had said.

Kami, Minato’s screwed, isn’t he?

Kushina’s going to kill him if the spirit doesn’t first.

* * *

Minato sees the spirit intermittently throughout the next few days. It’s always in casual, otherwise normal settings and always when he’s alone. 

He’ll turn to grip a cup of tea, and suddenly the spirit is sitting on the table and the cup is shattered on the floor and he can’t breathe. He’ll be flicking through a book, and suddenly the spirit is in the corner of his eye and the words are blurring together.

There is frustratingly little recorded on chakra spirits, and most of it can be dismissed outright due to Minato’s own newfound experience. They do not take the forms of violent animals, nor torment him with nightmares, nor anything more overtly aggressive or violent. The only lead he really has is Kushina, and the mission was extended another week. 

He doesn’t tell anyone explicitly, but he does poke a bit at the idea with a few others to get a lay of the land and see if anything turns up. Nothing. Jiraiya-sensei, Sakumo, Mikoto - absolutely  _ nothing.  _

Well, at least, until the spirit suddenly appears in his kitchen looking distinctly more frustrated than the typical slightly-peeved expression. He braces himself reflexively for the surge of terror that is bound to come when he meets the spirit’s dark eyes.

Nothing.

Now, chakra spirits are complex, unknown beings. Before Minato saw one, he was honestly doubtful of their existence. Now, finally having the proper chance to look at one and soak in all the little details, he can’t help but agree with the few descriptions he’s found that seemed like they could be semi-accurate. The spirit is lithe, with an otherworldly grace along with a general sense of  _ unrealness  _ permeating the air around the two of them.

With the terror not present to suppress it, Minato is filled with a rush of curiosity.

“Hello?” He tries.

The spirit gives him an unimpressed look.

“No pleasantries,” The spirit - he? - dismisses. “I have a deal-”

“Are you male?”

The spirit looks miffed at the interruption, but takes a moment to think. “Sure,” The spirit - he! - says. Minato gets the sense that he’s not quite of a sort that subscribes to gender, and is just answering the question to sate Minato.

“Okay. Sorry. Continue.”

_ “Anyways,”  _ He grounds out. “I have a deal. You’re going to take it. Any questions?”

Minato blinks in surprise. A  _ deal? _ Why would a chakra spirit want to make a  _ deal?  _ What could that even entail? What does he think Minato wants of him? What would  _ he  _ want of  _ Minato? _

He proceeds a bit more warily. “What kind of deal?” He asks.

The spirit smiles with his eyes, and Minato wonders what he looks like under the mask. “The mutually beneficial kind?”

“But what does it entail?”

“Mutually beneficial things.”

“I’m not going to agree to something I don’t know.” Minato tells him firmly. “Much less to a chakra spirit. I’m not entirely sure what you  _ are,  _ to be honest.”

The spirit glares at him for a moment, before rolling his eyes in a way that is reminiscent of a petulant genin. “Maa, maa, you’re really something, aren’t you?” He sighs. “What do you want to know?”

“Well, first off,” He forces himself to suppress the excitement in his voice. He can’t help it - this is something  _ completely  _ unknown to Minato’s world. He’s a shinobi, a warrior, a soldier. But still, he’s also a creator. An innovator, a  _ scholar.  _ “What  _ are  _ you?”

The spirit gives him that unimpressed look again - which, honestly, Minato is already used to - and raises a hand. There’s a sort of golden aura that seems to glow around his form, and Minato can also see...chains? Tethers?...coming out of it. They are hard to follow through the air, and some of the far more faded ones disappear through the wall, but the brightest lead right back to…

Him.

Oh.

“Every time someone uses chakra, it comes to us. I’m bonded with you and another shinobi. That fear you feel when you see me? That terror?” The predatorial glint is back in his eyes. “That’s from your chakra.”

_ Oh. _

“And before you ask anything else,” The spirit says quickly as Minato opens his mouth to ask a follow-up. “That’s  _ all  _ I’m going to say on my existence. Only questions on the deal.”

Hm. Okay. Minato can work with this.

“What’s the deal?”

“You release me.” The spirit says. “Cut me off from you. I keep the chakra I have, you don’t have to worry about a malignant spirit haunting you, and we both win.”   


Minato looks at the faded lines.

“You already got the other shinobi to agree?”

The chakra spirit hesitates, looking unsteady and uncertain for a moment before his becoming calmly blank. “The man’s half-senile. His wife told him to listen to me, so he did without question.”

“Who?”

“What?”

“Who was the other?” Minato asks.

“Does it matter?” The spirit shoots back.

“Just humor me,” Minato says, a careful smile on his face. The friendly one he uses to stay underestimated, to get them to forget his speed and skill and ability to lash out like a viper.

The spirit looks at him for a moment.

“Hatake Sakumo,” He answers finally.

Sakumo.  _ Sakumo. _

A brilliant, strong, far from foolish and even farther from senile shinobi who happens to be married to the only Uzumaki left beside Kushina.

He thinks over things. If the spirit’s telling the truth and Manami  _ had  _ told Sakumo to release those bonds…well, there has to be a reason why? Either she had deemed he was too great a threat to her husband and too little a threat to harm the village, or…

“What do you get out of it?” He asks.

The spirit looks at him.

“What do you mean?”

“Me cutting off my ties. Sakumo cutting his. You’re a chakra spirit, right? You essentially  _ feed  _ off of us. Why do you want us to cut you off?” Minato presses.

The spirit looks frustrated, and Minato takes it as a sign he’s asking the right questions.

“None of your business.” He nearly snarls. “Do we have a deal?”

“Not until you answer my question.” Minato insists.

“Keep asking and I’ll show you that the terror you felt before was nothing but a  _ warm up.” _ The spirit hisses, straightening up. His aura seems to expand, the gold crackling and sparking in the air. Minato can see the tethers that connect them grow taunt.

“Do you want to know what I think?” Minato asks calmly.

He does not feel terror.

_ “No.”  _ The spirit growls, his voice getting darker, more unearthly.

“There’s one story about chakra spirits. It’s from Uzushio. Supposedly it’s a fable.” Minato continues.

He does not feel fear.

“It talks about spirits that haunt over shinobi, feeding off their chakra. But then one made a mistake - was seen. Her shinobi manages to figure out how to cut off the bond that links them, but when she does-”

_ “Shut up!”  _ The spirit roars.

“The spirit gains a physical form. She wreaks havoc on the small village, but dies in the process through chakra exhaustion. After all, chakra spirits cannot generate their own chakra supply-”

Minato feels terror. Blinding, choking terror.

He stops talking. He stumbles into the countertop.

The pressure lifts. The spirit is glaring at him in anger, but it’s slowly fading like a dying fire.

“Fine. I want to be physical. Happy now?” The spirit spits angrily at him.

“You’ll die.” Minato tells him.

“That’s only if I use all my chakra. I have a lot. I’ll be fine. Besides,``he pauses for a moment, before his voice gets softer. “I don’t plan on using it.”

“What do you mean?” Minato asks curiously.

The spirit hesitates, before reaching up at one of the golden tethers and tugging.

Suddenly, Minato’s in the dark. He’s falling, falling, falling-

He’s sitting next to Maito Gai, watching the boy without enough chakra train and work and talk excitedly. He’s feeling a thousand emotions that aren’t his own as the boy promises him something.

Then suddenly he’s back in his home.

“Oh.” He says, very, very surprised.

“Yeah,  _ oh.”  _ The spirit says, not looking him in the eye. Minato thinks he might be blushing.

He’s  _ embarrassed. _

He thinks over what he just saw.

“You…”

“I didn’t mean for him to see me,” The spirit cuts him off defensively. “I just...he just  _ did  _ and then suddenly we’re talking and he...he…” He looks up at Minato. “We kept talking. He  _ named  _ me. We don’t have names, but he  _ gave  _ me one.”

_ “We’ll be able to train together one day! And when that happens, my rival Kakashi, I’ll promise to give you everything I’ve got!” _

Minato gives the spirit,  _ Kakashi,  _ a soft look.

“You care for him, don’t you?”

“I don’t know how to care. I’m a chakra spirit. But I thought...maybe if…” He takes a deep breath. “I thought maybe if I could be human, that would be enough.”

Minato is silent for a few moments. Kakashi shifts with poorly-hidden anxiety.

Then Minato gives him a soft smile.

“I’ll do it.”

* * *

The world is warm.

This is the only fact he knows is true beyond a doubt.

It’s in the soft smiles shared under the dawn’s rays. It’s in the wind that gently breezes through the training fields, giving two boys a bit of a cool-off after all the work done in the heat of the day. It’s in the hopes and dreams in the hearts of those who remain.

The warmth of the world seeps in everywhere. In the hearts of people he once saw as pray, the eyes of the people he’s learning to love. It’s in lingering touches and passionate declaration and the realization that things will get brighter.

He looks down at their interlocking hands. They’re warm. Always warm. There’s no lights signifying the chakra he’s taken, but they’re warm. Everything is.

The warmth is in Kakashi’s very being every time he looks at Gai, and nothing can ever change that.

**Author's Note:**

> minato u nerd and kakashi u absolute dork
> 
> message: if minato is able to ask kakashi's pronouns when he thinks kakashi is a malignant spirit who has it out for him u can too
> 
> there's a lot more to this world i had to cut for sake of time :// if you're interested, feel free to ask about it!!


End file.
